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We have one "official" bathroom. Well, one & a 1/3 maybe. Since we've been remodeling our bathroom upstairs, we've become quite cozy with our 1/3 of a bathroom that we keep hidden in the basement. It's actually kind of a funny how before we started working upstairs, I don't think I used the bathroom basement once. Not once! Mostly because it was a little dark & intimidating... maybe even a little bit scary! Plus, we had a fully functioning bathroom upstairs, so why not use that one? I know, I'm a wimp.

But when we took the toilet & sink out upstairs, that sealed my fate. I would either have to use the basement bathroom, or try & break in to our neighbor's outhouse (they keep it locked with a chain... we live in a strange neighborhood). So I've sucked it up & use the bathroom downstairs, which actually kinda resembles an outhouse (minus the smell). And what about showering, you ask? Well that's another fun adventure. When John's mom & grandma came to visit us (just days before embarking on this remodeling journey), they helped us rig up a (nearly) fully functioning shower. There are some tricky things to remember when showering at our house:

Make sure you turn on the hot water & let it run approximately 5 minutes before you want to shower.
Turn the valve off (so the water actually shuts off) so that the "tub" can adequately empty itself before you actually shower (if we were to keep the water running the entire time, it would flood our basement-- we have a small drain in the floor).
While you are waiting to let the tub drain, kill some time... like 5 more minutes. Notice the many hair balls that need sweeping. Fold some laundry. Gather your showering items.
If you are 5'9" or less, make sure you wear some thickly-soled sandals so you can reach the water valve to turn on/shut off the water.
Hop on in the tub, but make sure all the magnets are stuck to the walls of the tub or you will have a big watery mess to clean up afterwards.
Turn on the water for 10-15 seconds to wet your hair. Shut off the water (for fear of overflowing again). Wash hair & body. Turn on water to rinse. Shut off water. Condition. Turn on water to rinse.
Hop out of tub. Run across the basement to the clothesline we've rigged up for our towels because you forgot to get it ahead of time.
Make sure you rinse the tub, remove hair balls, & squeegee the floor.

This all takes at least 40 or so minutes, so gone are the days when I'd say, "I'm going to quick jump in the shower!" And if I want to shave my legs? Yeah, that's another story. I'll save you from the exact details, but it involves sitting on my washing machine & using our utility sink.

My only worry? That John actually kind of likes this set up! I think he is just starting to get annoyed with it now (& especially since it's getting colder & our basement is freezing!), which is good news. When he's fed up with something, projects happen more quickly.... we're hoping to have the bathroom in working order this weekend, but until then, we'll continue to make due!

This is our lovely rigged up shower & "tub" to catch the water (there are tiny holes drilled in it so that it can drain nicely out to our floor drain).